Guided weapon design necessitates the need for a guidance electronics unit (GEU), which is the brain of the system. The GEU includes functions such as the mission computer, guidance, navigation, and control of the weapon, along with other weapon specific functions. The GEU consists of multiple circuit card assemblies (CCAs) that are usually arranged in close proximity to each other.
Guidance electronics units (GEUs) are used in a variety of weapons that are subject to sudden forces during an explosive launch, such as firing the weapon from a gun or howitzer or launching a missile.
Typical designs for a guidance electronics unit consists of circuit card assemblies held together by metal housings, often with very precise machining. These metal housings are very expensive to produce and take a long time to design and develop.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,663, entitled “Cooling System for Electronic Assembly”, and issued on Dec. 19, 1989, to Ernest P. Longerich et al, and related U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,922,381 and 4,903,603, disclose a plurality of circular circuit cards, arranged in an aligned, parallel relationship in a sealed unit. An electrically insulating coolant liquid is disposed in the sealed unit in direct contact with the circuit cards and electrical components mounted thereon to absorb heat generated by electrical power dissipation. For extremely high “G” forces, in excess of 100,000 G, a plurality of ceramic circuit cards is spaced apart by a plurality of ceramic spacer cards and bolted together.
However, it appears that there is little prior art that deals with protecting rigidly-mounted guidance electronics units against the shock of explosive launch. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,917, entitled “Gyro Stabilized Optics with Fixed Detector”, issued on Aug. 21, 1990, to Wilber W. Cottle et al, illustrates a plurality of circuit card assemblies (CCAs), but no mechanism is disclosed or suggested for protecting the CCAs during an explosive launch, such as from a howitzer.
Thus, there remains a need for supporting the internal components of a guidance system, and, in particular, for stabilizing circuit card assemblies and their interconnects in such guidance electronics units so as to avoid damage during the shock of an explosive launch.